Luxury Chairs and Pizzas: The Production of Social Spaces and Class

Abstract

This chapter contributes to our understanding of the social construction of the spaces used by virtual workers and digital entrepreneurs in Taiwan. It examines co-working and co-creation spaces. Through ethnography and interviews, the current research examines three co-working spaces in Taiwan and compares them with spaces in Hong Kong. The discussion combines Henri Lefebvre’s conceptualisation of the social production of space, Michel de Certeau’s notion of spatial stories, and seminal writings on conspicuous consumption and class in order to explain these work spaces. The places of work for these nascent entrepreneurs and co-workers can be explained through the articulation of social and cultural capital that marks the boundaries around an imagined community of the young, creative middle class. It concludes that there are two types of spatial arrangements: the spatial connection between traditional high-tech industries and the startup ecosystem, and co-working spaces as places of cultural and social networks.